This invention relates to a prefabricated header used in the construction industry. Headers are load bearing devices that are installed on the top of building openings. They may be used over openings for doors, windows or wherever there is a need to provide strength to support the wall, floor, roof and other structural elements above the opening.
For years headers have commonly been constructed by workmen on the job site. One widely used method has been to cut two 2 inch by 12 inch boards to the length required and then to nail the two boards together with a 1/2 inch chip board of the same length sandwiched between. The resulting load bearing header is a board 3.5 inches thick which is the normal thickness of the wall. Another reason 2 by 12 boards (actually 1.5 inches by 11.5 inches) are used to construct headers is that the 11.2 inch height when nailed flush to the top of an eight foot high wall gives a height opening suitable for a standard sized manufactured door.
Other prior art bulkheads or headers have metallic moldings with a series of sections whose edges are overlapped by an edge of an adjacent section with a retaining member between the edges. With one other prior art reference the header for a door frame is prefabricated with a horizontal lintel bar and vertically spaced strips joined by several short strips. Side bolts through the side strips are used to attach the lintel bar to the upper ends of stud sections.
Another prior art reference discloses a one piece light-gauge metal load-bearing header with a tube-shaped box beam. Still another prior art reference has a header with interlocking side end flanges, one of which is one each vertical studs, which sides end flanges can be joined together.